So You Want to be a Sorcerer
by tavin93
Summary: How would the Buffy story line be different if Xander found a series of books about how to make you enemies run in terror with your sorcery written by the most feared sorceress of them all Lina Inverse.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Slayers and I barely own the idea for this story as I was inspired by AlanP's Xander Inverse the Vampire Spooker.

Xander was bored!

Not just bored but extremely bored.

Willow and Buffy were out by themselves having a 'Girl's Night.' They had invited him but he really didn't want to sit around all night braiding hair, watching some chick flick, and talking about (shudder) Angel. Unfortunately Giles heard him complain about not having anything to do tonight and had surprisingly offered to have a 'Guy's Night' with him.

Now normally Xander would have refused on principle because a) Giles is old, so not cool; b) Giles is British and sometimes overly stuffy; and c) Giles was starting to become a father/mentor to him. All of these factors were reasons that Xander would normally refuse the offer, but it had nearly been a year since Jesse's death and he was really missing guy time with his best friend. So Xander said yes to Giles' offer of a 'Guy's Night' which lead to him being bored.

It had started off fine, he had swung by the store and picked up some nice sugary pastries and brought them back to the library where he and Giles were having their 'Guy's Night', and then it started to go downhill from there.

Giles was actually surprised that he had offered to have a 'Guy's Night' and even more so when the boy accepted. Now, while Giles was originally against the involvement of civilians in the slaying, both Willow and Xander had not only shown a unique resourcefulness in the handling of the various demons of the Hellmouth but had proven themselves to be invaluable assets. Giles was also starting to see the three of them as his own children instead of just his charges. And while Buffy has been and will always be his main focus, he's started to develop a soft spot for the boy of the group.

What man doesn't eventually want a son to teach and guide in the ways of the world, so he really wanted this 'Guy's Night' to be his first step in forming a bond with the young man. Now if only he could figure out what to do with the young man.

"Yo! G-man I come bearing sugary goodness!" Xander yelled as he walked into the library.

"Xander how many times must I ask you not to call me that?" said an obviously irritated Giles.

Xander just grinned in response and sat his box of doughnuts and other pastries on the table. "So Giles, what you figure we should do for this 'Guy's Night'? And is it just me or can you actually hear the quotation marks on 'Guy's Night'?" Xander asked.

"Well I'm not really sure what we should do for our little get together," Giles said while he cleaned his glasses.

"Okay, first off Giles call it a 'Guy's Night'. With the quotes, it sounds a lot less awkward than 'get together'. Second, whenever Jesse and I would hang out, just the two of us, we would talk about our interests and things we liked, we'd eat, and maybe watch a movie we both liked but knew Willow would hate," Xander said.

"Well you have brought some- uh 'sugary goodness' as you said, and I have tea in my office so we have the eating part handled," Giles said but seeing Xander's face at the mention of tea he continued, "Oh do grow up Xander. Have you even tried actual tea? And not that crap you bloody Americans try to pass off as tea." Xander gave a sheepish grin as he answered in the negative.

As Giles left to get the tea, – and man Xander couldn't believe he was actually going to be drinking tea, might as well start wearing tweed and adopt a British accent while he was at it, – he grabbed one of the jelly filled doughnuts. Xander had a feeling that this wouldn't be the best 'Guy's Night' but at least Giles was trying, which is more than what his own father had ever done.

"I went ahead and added some milk and sugar to yours since you've never tried it before," Giles said as he came back carrying a tray with two cups of tea and the rest of the accoutrements that went with it.

"Fank froo," Xander said with his mouth full of jelly filled pastry.

"Xander please refrain from speaking with your mouth full. It is most disturbing."

Xander made sure to swallow before he replied, "Sure thing Giles. No more food mumbles for me tonight." Xander took his cup from Giles and just looked at it like it was some form of poison.

"Oh do grow up, it's just tea Xander. It won't kill you to try it once – you might even like it," Giles said with a slight grin that he hid by taking a drink from his own cup. Xander gave him one more look before he took a hesitant sip of his tea. He let it sit in his mouth for a moment until he finally swallowed. Slowly he got an awed look on his face.

"This stuff is actually really good, great even!" he said as he took another drink of his tea. Isn't that great who would have thought Xander no middle name Harris would like, and even willingly drink, tea?

Giles let Xander see the smile on his face when he said, "My boy, there might be hope for you yet." Both Giles and Xander laughed at that, but unfortunately that was the highlight of the night.

Giles and Xander both tried to start up a conversation but neither really had much in common. The longest conversation they had while eating was discussing the different tea blends, and isn't that just sad. Finally when the pastries were gone and the tea was drank they sat there in an awkward silence neither knowing what to do or say. Finally Giles got up and headed over to the weapons cage. When he came back he had a sword, a dagger, and an ax in his hands. He sat them all on the table along with a plain wooden box. "As long as were here and have nothing better to do, you might as well learn to take care of the weapons you and the others use," he said.

The little lesson on how to sharpen and polish the different blades that they used was actually really fun and Xander learned a lot. The box contained polish, whetstones, and rags. Giles showed him how to clean and maintain each of the basic weapons. The entire lesson took about an hour but after that it was back to the awkward silence.

"I'm sorry Xander, this night didn't really turn out like I was hoping it would," Giles said. One of them had to break and it turned out to be the librarian first.

Xander gave his mentor/father figure a smile and said, "It's cool Giles. At least you tried, but hey I had fun with helping you take care of the weapons so why don't we do something else that you haven't had time to do? So any other work you've been putting off or something like that?" Xander said. Xander really did like that fact that Giles was trying to have a good time with him which was kind of surprising since most of the time it seemed like he barley tolerated him.

Giles looked at the boy and could tell that he actually meant what he said. He shook his head and gave Xander another smile before he said, "I have some books that were shipped here from the council that I haven't had a chance to look through yet. Would you want to help with that?"

Now normally Xander would run from any form of book work but this was his and Giles' 'Guy's Night' and while sorting through dusty, barley able to read or understand books wasn't high on his fun things to do list he decided he might as well go with it since this is what Giles liked to do. "Sure I'm not saying I'll be jumping for joy while doing it but I can help you out, but you might have to translate some of the weirder ones for me," he finally said.

"Well come on, the crate's in my office. You can help me move it onto the table."

Xander and Giles got the crate out into the main area of the library and started to sort through the various books and tomes. Sure enough most of them were extremely old and had titles that were unrecognizable and some couldn't even be pronounced with human vocal chords. When Xander asked about it Giles just said that those books were given designations by the Watcher's Council and called by that. Giles was confused when Xander started snickering about that and when he finally asked what was so funny he had to refrain himself from banging his head on the table. Xander thought it was cute that the stuffy British council nicknamed their books. Sometimes Giles really wondered how the boy thought he was funny.

It turns out sorting through all of the books wasn't as bad as Xander thought it was going to be. Giles really knew his stuff and knew the history of almost every book they sorted through and when Xander would point out an odd cover or title Giles would launch into a story about the author and what he knew about their life. Like this one book that Xander was looking at it had a silver plated cross on the front cover and was clearly handwritten but had a couple of slash marks on the leather cover as if something had clawed it like a tiger or some demon. When Giles saw Xander looking at it he launched into a story about this priest who claimed to have been given a mission by God to seek out and catalog all the demons of the world. Surprisingly the guy did really well in his mission and managed to accurately catalog almost the entire peaceful population of demons and at least a third of the more violent ones until he was finally killed by one of the demons he was researching. That was where the scratches on the cover came from. That was just one of the stories that Giles told him about the books they were going through, and when Xander asked him why he never brought up these stories when they were researching, Giles simply said, "When we are researching for the latest threat we should be focused on surviving and saving potential victims and not discussing who wrote what book and why."

When they were almost done with the crate Xander happened to pull out one of the smaller books. It was small book, only about an inch longer than the palm of his hand and two inches wider. The cover was made out of faded red leather so that it was almost pink, but what really drew his attention was the title and name of the author _So You Want to be a Sorcerer: a beginner's guide to sorcery_ by Lina Inverse. It wasn't really the book or the title that grabbed his attention but the name of the author.

When he and Jesse were younger they would watch all kinds of movies and TV shows. Somehow Jesse found the wonder that is Anime and introduced it to Xander. Both of the boys were quickly hooked by shows like Cased Closed, Inuyasha, and Dragon Ball Z, but one of Xander's favorite was the show called Slayers about an extra petite sorceress Lina Inverse the bandit killer and dragon spooker. He always thought it would be cool to be able to throw fireballs around like Lina or make golems like Naga, so when he saw that the book was written by someone who shared the same name as one of his favorite childhood heroes he was understandably excited.

"Hey Giles what can you tell me about this book and this Lina Inverse?" he asked.

"Let me see," Giles said. After a few moments to look at it he said, "Ah yes, this book is actually the first in a series of books written by a very well-known if a little bit too destructive sorceress and her friends."

"The other books wouldn't happen to have been written by Zelgadis Greywords, Amelia Seyruun, or Sylphiel Lahda would they?" Xander asked.

"How could you possibly know that?" Giles asked as he stared at the boy.

"Because those were some of the main characters from an anime that Jesse and I used to watch," Xander said with a huge grin.

"Dear Lord they made a children's show based on the bandit killer herself?" Giles asked no one in particular. He stared with unseeing eyes trying to understand why someone would do such a thing.

"I have the first two seasons recorded on VHS if you want to watch them. We could make another 'Guy's Night' out of it," Xander said with a cheeky grin. Giles wasn't really listening, too busy thinking over the implications that someone made a TV show out of one of the most feared sorceresses of all time, so he just nodded and agreed with Xander's suggestion.

Xander was still thinking about the book Giles had in his hand. If you went by the title it was a manual on how to be a sorcerer like Lina or Zelgadis. He had maybe a once in a lifetime chance to actually live out his childhood dream. He and Jesse had always wanted to be characters from their favorite anime's. Jesse thought it would be cool to be an awesome swordsman like Gourry or Zelgadis, but Xander always loved the magic and shear destruction that Lina could make. This childhood dream lead to Xander asking a question that would change the fate of the entire world.

"Hey Giles, mind if I borrow that book?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: It was pointed out to me that this chapter was in need of some editing and to make everything flow and come together better. Oxnate kindly offered to beta this first chapter and did a really great job. Saying that Oxnate can't beta the rest of this story due to not being familiar with this crossover, so I still need someone to beta future chapters if anyone is interested just message me or leave a review. Thank you and I hope you all enjoy this edited chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Slayers.

FYI: this hasn't been beta'd so there are probably some mistakes. Tell me what you think about my explanation of Slayer magic. If it's confusing just leave me a review or PM I'll try to answer any questions. Oh and tell me what you think about the fight scene at the end. It didn't turn out quite like I wanted it so any feedback you give me would be great.

"_Hey Giles, mind if I borrow that book?"_

"What uh y-yes I suppose you can it is after all just an introduction to the rest of the series; however, there are some basic spells in their so be careful when casting them. Nothing in that book should be dangerous," Giles said looking up from the book they were discussing.

"Great thanks a lot for this G-man," Xander said before he grabbed the book and ran out of the library.

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

_Ugh stupid alarm clocks it's too early for this, _Xander thought as he turned off his clock that read 8:00 A.M. _Why am I getting up this early on a Saturday?_ Then he saw the little book sitting on his desk across the room.

_Oh that's right today I'm actually going to start to become a Sorcerer. Jesse I wish you were here you would love this._

Xander got up and went about his normal morning routine shower, get dressed, breakfast, and finally brush teeth. When he was finished he looked at the clock, it was only 9 o'clock, and he was ready to get started. Yesterday if someone had told him he would be up this early on a Saturday to study he would have thought they were crazy but here he was Xander Harris in his room about to study a book. Sure it was a book on magic but it's still studying.

_Okay so let's see what the real Lina Inverse has to say about Sorcery._ With that Xander started reading.

_So you want to be a Sorcerer huh? Well I doubt you have what it takes to be even a third rate sorcerer but I'll attempt to give you some basic magical knowledge._

_Man the people that made the show really captured Lina's personality_, he thought.

_The first thing that you need to know about Sorcery is that it's broken down into three different types of magic. White magic is generally focused on healing or purifying. White magic gains its power from celestial being or gods unfortunately because of this only priests or priestesses can use the highest levels of White Magic. Most people can cast the basic healing spells but they will always be stronger for devout followers of a deity. The second category of sorcery is Black Magic. Black Magic is commonly referred to as battle magic. It is the magic that I use most often and draws its power from demon lords and chaos. My favorite spell the Dragon Slave calls upon the powers of the Demon Lord Shabranigdo to power the spell. Black Magic unlike White Magic does not require you to pledge allegiance to the demon you call upon. The final category of sorcery is Shamanism. Shamanism calls upon different spirits to fuel the spell. It is the second most powerful battle magic and tends to be more useful indoors as it's not as destructive as Black magic. Shamanism magic deals with nature spirits and the astral plane._

_Each magic has its own strengths and weaknesses and limitation. To become and effective Sorcerer the first thing you must do after learning the basics of sorcery is to pick a branch of magic to specialize in. Be warned though there are consequences to choosing to specialize in a particular branch. If you choose to specialize in White magic you will have to find a Deity to devote yourself to and deal with all of those consequences. Unfortunately because of the conflicting natures of Deities and Demon Lords if you specialize in White magic you will only be able to cast the basic Black magic and it will always be relatively weak. The same is true if you specialize in Black magic. While you don't have to dedicate your life to a Demon Lord you will only have access to the very basic White magic. Myself I am unable to cast anything besides the most basic recovery spell and even then it is extremely weak. While Shamanistic magic is compatible with both White and Black magic it has its own drawbacks. Shamanistic magic requires a certain connection to nature to cast the spells effectively. _

_Each sorcerer has a baseline potential for the different magic's. This means that you have a certain aptitude for specific branches of magic. This does not mean that you can't learn a discipline of magic if you don't have the aptitude for it. It just means that you will have to work harder to learn that particular discipline of magic. To determine your baseline I have provided a spell below it is mainly a meditation exercise so even a beginner can't screw it up._

Sure enough at the bottom of the page were instructions on how to enter a meditative state. After that it was just a matter of calling forth your magic into a ball in your hands a simple chant and the colors would tell you the rest. It seemed simple enough and since it wasn't technically a spell Xander didn't feel like bothering Giles to get his permission.

Seeing as it was almost lunchtime and wanting to get out of his house and get some fresh air Xander decided to grab a burger and try the exercise in the park.

_The Park_

_Hmm say what you will about the other fast food joints but the burgers at Double Meat Palace just taste better. _Xander had just finished his lunch and was now looking for the perfect spot to meditate. It had to be secluded so no one saw any magic and it had to be relaxing and with the sun out today Xander found the shade produced by a large Willow tree relaxing. The boulders blocking people's view of him and the bubbling stream were also major bonuses in his books.

"Ok the book says that I need to focus and relax to let all outside awareness disappear until I'm surrounded by a black void then I need to focus inward and find my 'spark of magic'," he said out loud.

So Xander closed his eyes and sat in a lotus position (Because that's what he's seen on TV) and focused on nothing. Then he heard some kids playing tag, so he started over. He focused on breathing and letting go of all of his thoughts and emotions. Then he heard a car backfire. Xander was so started that he had to start over. Deep breaths in and out in and out ignore the fly, he thought to himself. Finally after a few more tries he got fed up.

"Darn it why can't I get this right its stupid meditation for crying out loud," he said. "Okay one more time then I'll get Giles to help me out."

Deep breaths in and out in and out let the world fall away let you thought disappear. After a few minutes Xander was calm and started to fall into the meditative state that the book told him about. _Now I have to focus inward and find my 'spark'_ he thought. Slowly the void fell away it felt like he was zooming in on his body he was getting closer and closer until when it look like he was going to run into his chest it seemed to ripple until he passed through it. He traveled deeper and deeper until he saw a speck of light. _That tiny speck is my magic guess I won't make that great of a sorcerer anyway,_ he thought to himself, but then he realized that he was still traveling and the speck was getting bigger.

When he finally reached his magic he was shocked. That tiny speck tuned out to be the size of a large beach ball that was constantly pulsing and growing bigger and smaller. It was a swirling mass of light all white's and pale yellows. Standing in front of it Xander felt a soothing heat and a sense of comfort coming from it.

_Okay so I can see my magic but how do I draw it out into my hands or form a ball of it._ _Should I even touch it or just will it to happen._ _Oh well here goes nothing._ With that Xander stuck his hand into the ball of magic.

He knew immediately that that probably wasn't the best idea. His magic acted like a water balloon that had just been stuck with a needle. Magic seemed to wash everywhere. Xander could actually feel it filling up his body travelling through his veins to reach every part of his body. When it finally all settled down he felt that a lot of magic concentrated in his head, heart, and surprisingly his groin, unfortunately the magic washing over his body snapped him out of his meditation.

"Whoa head rush," he said to himself.

Once Xander finally settled down he began to notice that he could still feel the magic running through his body. It was warm and comforting and made him feel alive. Then he looked up and realized that he must have been meditating for a while because it was dark. It was dark and he was alone in Sunnydale. There was something about that statement that should be worrying him. It was dark in Sunnydale and he was alone. Then he heard a growl and it clicked it was dark in Sunnydale and he was a lone with no Slayer there to protect him from the things that go bump in the night and he had now weapons.

Now normally Xander wouldn't have taken so long to figure this out but the meditation combined with the rush of magic throughout his system left him extremely relaxed and slightly drowsy. Also understandable is that he had no weapons on him because he wasn't planning on staying in the park for more than a couple of hours so why would he need weapons. All of this added together left a bleak picture for Xander Harris.

When Xander tried to jump up and run to avoid whatever demon or vampire wanted to make him their meal he forgot that he had been sitting in the lotus position for hours. His legs were asleep so he wound up falling on his face. This was actually helpful for Xander as the vampire that was lunging for him overshot and his the boulder he had been sitting by. When Xander finally managed to stand he saw that the vampire that had decided to make him its meal had knocked itself out. Looking closer he realized that he knew this vamp it was one of the old football players that used to bully him and Jesse.

"Wow now that was extremely lucky but I better hurry inside before this incredible luck runs out," he said taking off in the direction of his house.

He had just made it to the entrance of the park when he was tackled from behind.

"You didn't think I would let my lunch get away now did you," the vampire from before snarled at him.

"Well no but I was kind of hoping that that rock gave you enough brain damage to keep you out for an hour or so," Xander said.

_Ok think Xander your pinned by a vamp you have no weapons and you can't even reach any rocks to knock this guy out again what do you do._ While he was thinking the vamp decided it was done waiting and started to lean down towards his throat. Xander just barley managed to get his arm free enough to hold the vampire off his throat. _Think Xander all you have going for you now is your magic but you don't know any spells just that stupid meditation. Fat lot of good it does you now. Wait that meditation trick that's it._

Xander started to focus on the feel of his magic he could still feel it circulating throughout his body. He slowly started to try and push some of it towards his hand focusing on building it up in his hands. It was slow and he was slowly losing the battle with the vamp for his neck, but he finally thought he had enough magic built up just under the surface of his hand. With one last mental shrug he pushed all of the built up energy out and focused into pure light.

He was just hoping for a light bulb of light that would hurt the vamp with its sensitive hearing long enough for Xander could get away, but what he got was something along the lines of a concentrated lighthouse beam aimed right at the vampires face. Its sensitive eyes were almost burned out of their sockets. It leapt back screaming clutching at its ruined eyes and all Xander did was lie their dazed and slightly drained. He didn't realize that he had put so much magic into that.

He shook off his confusion and managed to get the heck out of dodge. Only when he was finally back safe and sound in his room did he start to settle down. _I almost died tonight because of my own stupidity I never want to be that defenseless again._ He looked over to the book written by Lina Inverse and swore to himself that he would learn sorcery and he would use it to protect himself and his friends.


End file.
